German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius stressed the need to better equip the Bundeswehr as quickly as possible during a visit to the army’s 36th Attack Helicopter Regiment in the western German state of Hesse on Tuesday.
Pistorius said Russia is expected to have rebuilt its military from the war in Ukraine by 2029 and could then be able to launch a military attack on NATO territory.
Germany must therefore adapt to this threat scenario as quickly as possible, the minister said.
Germany is NATO’s largest partner in Europe and has “a corresponding responsibility”, according to Pistorius.
Pistorius did not give a specific answer to the question of how much money would be needed to adequately re-equip the Bundeswehr. He pointed out that more money is needed, but that this is not the only limiting factor.
He explained that even if the Bundeswehr had more money, it would take time to ramp up production because “the industry would still have to process the orders.”
The Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW) think tank recently criticized Germany for its slow rearmament. In its latest report from September, the think tank predicted that at the current pace of procurement, it would take many years to get the inventory back to 2004 levels – around 15 years for fighter jets and around 40 years for main battle tanks.
According to the IfW, this is due to both Germany’s drastic disarmament in recent decades and the still slow pace of rearmament under the current government. Supplies have also been sent to Ukraine to help fight the Russians.
